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April 23, 2008

Pauley Optioned; Sox May Call A Catcher

David Pauley was optioned back to Pawtucket after his start last night. With Jason Varitek still bothered by the flu, a catcher -- George Kottaras or Dusty Brown -- may be called up.

If all goes well, Mike Lowell could be on a rehab assignment this weekend and be activated for Tuesday's game against Toronto. ... Coco Crisp is expected to start Thursday afternoon. ... Bryan Corey, designated for assignment on April 11, re-signed with the Red Sox and was assigned to Pawtucket. ... Torii Hunter and racist taunts at Fenway.

In his last 12 games, Jacoby Ellsbury is 13-for-35, with 11 walks. Since Game 3 of last year's World Series, the Red Sox are 10-1 with Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia at the top of the lineup. Last night, the duo went 7-for-10, with five extra-base hits -- and Pedroia stole a base. FY:

I'm definitely showing that I'm a lot faster than some of these slugs around here.

10 comments:

It wouldn't surprise me, but has anyone heard "racist chants" first hand at Fenway?

I'm pretty alert to such things, and usually get into it with the a-h chanters (Memorial Stadium in the 70s was especially bad), but I've never heard that bile in Fenway---not in the grandstands, not in the bleachers, and that's over a lot of years and a lot of games.

If Torii is hearing one or two morons leaning over the center field wall, I think it's unfair to attribute this to the "fans."

It's very disappointing to hear that this is coming from *our* fans, who we'd like to pretend are better than the fans elsewhere. On the other hand, I'm sure there's at least some of this garbage anywhere you go.

Again, I ask: has anyone ever actually heard such a comment at Fenway?

If I were an African-American player, I'm sure I would pick up on the one drunk bigot screaming racial epithets along with 35,000 decent fans: I don't doubt the accounts. But it's hardly a reflection on Fenway, the Sox, Boston or anything else. Can you imagine anyone doing that and NOT being confronted by a bunch offended fans in Fenway? I sure can't---not in 2001, not in the Mo Vaughn era, not for a long, long time.

I can't say. I was last there in 2005 and have sat in the bleachers only once or twice.

I could see things getting ugly during a MFY game.

Can you imagine anyone doing that and NOT being confronted by a bunch offended fans in Fenway?

Absolutely. Easily. Even in a crowd who would presumably back them up, most people will not speak up. I saw it for almost 20 years on the NYC subway. One guy with a stero blasting or smoking on a car -- and no one would ask him to turn it down or put it out.

I was once loudly yelled at by some idiot on the train -- not sure why set him off -- but it went on for awhile. There was no real threat of violence, it was more annoying than anything else, but again not one person said a peep.

Sadly, you may be right. I come from a long line of confronters, and have the scars to prove it.

In 1973 I was at an Orioles game in which some Neandrathals behind us loudly screamed racial epithets at Reggie Smith during a Sox-O's game. My friend Scott Wheeler, from Lowell, Mass, stood up---all 6'6" and 320 pounds of him, and informed the three jerks in measured tones that they would soon find themselves being thrown out on the field with a chance to tell Reggie what they thought of him face to face if they didn't shut up quick. He could have done it, too. They left the next inning, and we had the quietest section in Memorial for the rest of the game.

well, there's what's called the bystander effect, with one of the most famous cases being the murder and assault of Kitty Genovese which was the basis for one of Phil Och's most famous songs "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" (lyrics, audio).